Catholics, keep away, lest you hear what you ought not

Damien Murphy

The former president of Ireland Mary McAleese will deliver the Rosemary Goldie Lecture at Sydney Town Hall on Sunday week but local Catholics, it seems, are being discouraged from attending.

The Catholic Weekly newspaper refused to take advertisements for the lecture which honours an Australian Catholic theologian who became the first woman to serve in an executive role in the Roman Curia.

Professor McAleese had criticised the former Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell for his "boy's club" appointment of a Sydney colleague to a key position in the Vatican.

She had also openly attacked Rome over its refusal to ordain women and said it should rethink it stance on homosexuality, saying the issue was "not so much the elephant in the room but a herd of elephants" for the church.

The Irish Echo, Australia's Irish newspaper, ran The Catholic Weekly's refusal to run the McAleese advertisements as a front-page story this week.

The story claimed the advertisements were refused because Professor McAleese's views did not accord with the Church.

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The editor of The Catholic Weekly, Peter Rosengren, took full responsibility for refusing the advertisement.

"As the editor of The Catholic Weekly I made the decision to decline the advertisement," he said.

"As the editor of The Catholic Weekly I also endorse all the teaching of the Catholic Church – including those on the nature of marriage and the priesthood."

Speaking out against tradition often provokes disagreement, but adding to the confusion caused by the newspaper's stand is the fact that a former auxiliary bishop of Sydney, Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, will introduce Professor McAleese when she takes the stage.

The Archdiocese of Sydney had recently rebuked Professor McAleese for her attack of Cardinal Pell, now Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy in Vatican City, for his appointment of Sydney archdiocese business manager, Danny Casey, to his Rome office.

Professor McAleese said the position had not been openly advertised and it looked like "the gravitational pull of the old boys' club".

The former Irish head of state is in Sydney as the guest of the Australian Catholic think-tank, Catalyst for Renewal.

The organisation exists to promotes open exchanges among Catholics emerging from the spirit of the Second Vatican Council in 1962.

The Rosemary Goldie lecture is part of the Catalyst for Renewal's 20th anniversary program.

Mr Kevin Grant, Catalyst for Renewal president, said he had been saddened by the newspaper's decision.

Professor McAleese, who was the eighth president of Ireland from 1997 to 2011, will also be guest of honour at a dinner to raise funds for the UNSW Chair of Modern Irish Studies.

Despite banning advertisements about the speech, Mr Rosengren said he looked forward to attending Professor McAleese's talk and writing an editorial about it.